The Sermon at Benares: Class 10 First Flight · Chapter 8
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What you will learn in The Sermon at Benares
- Explain what a sermon is and outline how Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha
- Retell the story of Kisa Gotami in order and explain why her two searches ended differently
- Explain the Buddha's teaching on death and grief, including the images of ripe fruit, clay pots and the arrow
- Write character sketches of Kisa Gotami and the Buddha and discuss the themes of grief, acceptance and selfishness
- Rephrase old-fashioned English in modern words and join clauses with a semicolon or a dash
- Compare older and newer ideas about grief in a discussion and write a three-paragraph composition
- Explain 'For Anne Gregory' stanza by stanza, with its dialogue form, refrain and ramparts metaphor
- Answer CBSE-style extract-based, short and long questions on the unit
Original companion text aligned to NCERT English Class 10, Chapter 8, pp. 111–119. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NCERT.
8.1 Before you read
Think of a time when someone close to you lost something precious: a grandparent, a pet, a best friend who moved to another city. What did people say to comfort them? Some words help. Others only make the pain sharper. This unit is about a young mother who cannot accept her child's death, and a teacher who helps her without a single word of scolding.
Start with the title. A sermon (प्रवचन) is a talk on religion or right living, given by a spiritual teacher to people who have come to learn. A lecture also teaches, but its subject is knowledge: a professor explaining how monsoon winds form. A talk can be about anything at all, from cricket to coding. People also use sermon as a joke or a complaint, for long advice nobody asked for: “Didi gave me a sermon on keeping my phone away at dinner.”
Sermon, lecture or talk?
Sermon
- about faith, values or how to live
- given by a religious or spiritual teacher
- aims to change how listeners live
- as a joke: a long moral telling-off
Lecture
- about a subject or a body of knowledge
- given by a teacher or an expert
- aims to inform and explain
- usually in a classroom or a hall
Talk
- any topic, often informal
- given by anyone with something to share
- may inform, entertain or persuade
- can be short and relaxed
Two sermons are famous across the world. The Sermon on the Mount was given by Jesus Christ. It is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5–7) and includes the teaching to love even one's enemies. The sermon in this unit is linked with the Buddha and with Benares, the old name of Varanasi on the Ganga.
The textbook asks you to look up six words before you read. Flip each card for its meaning and an example of how it is used.
Words to know before you read
Five of these words trace the emotional journey of the story you are about to read (Fig. 8.1). Watch how the mood falls, lifts for a moment, falls again and finally settles into calm.
4/4Everyone is subject to death; she grows composed.
A dashed line near the top stands for calm. In step 1, headed 'Loss strikes', a curve drops from calm through 'afflicted' to a low point marked 'lamentation'. In step 2, 'A spark of hope', the curve rises to 'procure'. In step 3, 'Sorrow in every home', it plunges to its lowest point, 'desolation'. In step 4, 'Acceptance and calm', it climbs through 'subject to' and ends above the calm line at 'composed'. Falling points are red dots and rising points are green dots.
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Answer (C) A monk explaining why we should forgive those who hurt us
Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.
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- procure : obtain
- lamentation : loud grieving
- composed : calm
- desolation : emptiness and misery
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Answer False
8.2 From prince to Buddha
The text opens with a short sketch of the teacher's life. Gautama Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama at Lumbini, in present-day Nepal, close to India's northern border. The textbook dates his life to 563–483 BCE; many historians now place it somewhat later. His early years were the opposite of the life he later chose: wealth, learning, marriage to a princess, a son, and no sight of suffering at all.
That protection broke in his twenties. Four chance encounters outside the palace, now known as the four sights, showed him sickness, old age, death (a funeral) and a wandering monk who lived on alms. The first three taught him that no one, not even a prince, escapes suffering. The fourth suggested a way to face it: give up comfort and seek the truth. Siddhartha did exactly that.
5/5He begins to teach; his first sermon is near Benares.
A dotted road runs across the picture with five circular stations: a palace, an eye for the four sights, footprints for the search, a peepal leaf for the tree, and a wheel for Benares. In step 1 only the palace is bright and the panel reads 'A prince kept from pain'. In step 2 the eye lights up and the panel lists sickness, age, death and a monk. In step 3 the footprints light up for years of wandering. In step 4 the peepal leaf lights up and the panel says he is awake, the Buddha. In step 5 the wheel at Benares lights up: he begins to teach.
Years of searching followed. The search ended beneath a peepal tree, where he meditated, determined to stay until the answer came. When enlightenment (बोध) arrived, he became the Buddha, ‘the awakened one’, and the tree has been called the Bodhi Tree ever since (bodhi means awakening). He then began to teach. According to the textbook, his first sermon was given at Benares, the holy city on the Ganga where pilgrims bathe from the ghats.
Why does this introduction matter for the story that follows? The truth that shook the young prince, that no one escapes illness, age and death, is exactly the truth he will help a grieving mother discover. The textbook calls her kind of sorrow inscrutable: so deep and so personal that reason alone cannot reach it.
Words from the introduction
- Enlightened under a peepal tree
- First sermon at Benares
- Grows up shielded in a palace
- Leaves home to seek the truth
- Sees the four sights
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- Grows up shielded in a palace
- Sees the four sights
- Leaves home to seek the truth
- Enlightened under a peepal tree
- First sermon at Benares
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Answer (C) That illness, old age and death come to everyone
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Answer (A) the awakened one
8.3 The story of Kisa Gotami
The heart of the text is a short story told in a few paragraphs. Read it in your textbook first. Then use these four scenes to check that you have followed every turn.
Scene 1: a mother who will not let go. The story opens with a loss: Kisa Gotami's only child has died. Grief (शोक) makes her refuse the truth. She carries the little body round the neighbourhood, sure that some medicine somewhere will wake him. To her neighbours the case is hopeless, and they decide that sorrow has driven her out of her mind. Only one person takes her request seriously. He has no cure himself, but he points her towards a greater healer: the Buddha.
Scene 2: a strange prescription. Kisa Gotami goes to the Buddha and begs him for a cure. He does not refuse her, and he does not tell her the hard truth. Instead he asks for something that sounds easy: a handful of mustard seed. Almost every Indian kitchen has mustard seed, so her hope soars. Then he adds a condition. There is a catch. The seed must come from a household that death has never touched.
Scene 3: the second round. The second round is a mirror image of the first. This time the neighbours are kind, and seed is pressed into her hands at every door. The difficulty lies in her follow-up question about deaths in the family. Each household has a story of loss, and some ask her not to reopen their own wounds. Door by door, the truth builds up: death has visited them all.
5/5No home is free of death: the seed can never be found.
A row of five houses stands along a road. In step 1, headed 'Round 1: medicine?', each house shows 'no cure' and the panel says she will not accept the death. In step 2 the houses fade and the panel shows the Buddha's task: mustard seed from a home where no one has died. In step 3, 'Round 2: mustard seed?', every house shows 'seed: yes' and the panel says everyone gladly offers seed. In step 4 the question is 'Has anyone died here?': a small flame appears above every roof with 'a loss' under each house. In step 5 the heading reads 'No home without a loss' and the panel says death has touched every home.
Scene 4: the lesson of the lamps. Exhausted, she rests by the roadside as evening falls, and her eyes turn to the lamps of the town. One flares up, another dies, and slowly the night swallows them all. Here the story makes its quiet turn. In those brief lights she recognises the shape of every human life, her son's included. With that comes an honest look at herself: her sorrow had been all about her own loss, while every family carries the same burden. She also glimpses hope. Anyone who gives up this self-centred grief can find a way through it.
4/4Lives, like lamps, shine for a while and then go out.
A row of buildings stands against an evening sky, seen from the roadside. In step 1, headed 'Lamps are lit at dusk', every window glows yellow. In step 2, 'Some go out, some flare up', about half the windows have gone dark while the others still glow. In step 3, 'Darkness over the city', every window is unlit, the orange dusk sky has turned night blue and a pale moon appears. In step 4 the same dark scene carries the heading 'So it is with every life'.
How selfish am I in my grief!
What does she mean by selfish? She is not calling herself greedy or unkind. She means that her grief had shrunk her whole world to one person and one loss. She had treated her son's death as a wrong done only to her, when every household she visited had suffered in the same way. Once she sees this, her sorrow stops being a wall between her and other people. It becomes a link with them.
Two rounds of the same street
First round
- she asks for medicine to bring her son back
- she refuses to believe he is dead
- people think grief has made her mad
- result: she is sent to the Buddha
Second round
- she asks for mustard seed from a home with no death
- she still hopes for a cure
- everyone offers seed, but every home has lost someone
- result: she understands that death comes to all
Words from the story
- Every home has lost someone
- A man sends her to the Buddha
- The Buddha asks for mustard seed
- Her only son dies
- She begs neighbours for medicine
- She watches the city lights
Show answer
- Her only son dies
- She begs neighbours for medicine
- A man sends her to the Buddha
- The Buddha asks for mustard seed
- Every home has lost someone
- She watches the city lights
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Answer (D) No home had escaped the death of someone dear
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Answer False
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Answer (B) Lives, like the lamps, burn for a while and then go out
8.4 The Buddha's sermon
The second half of the text is the sermon itself. It is not a story but an argument, and it moves from facts to advice. Read it in your textbook, then use this section to follow its four big ideas.
1. Death is certain. The Buddha starts with facts no one can argue with. Every life is brief and has its share of suffering, and birth always ends in death. He makes this vivid with pictures from village life. Once a fruit has ripened, it is the one most at risk of dropping. Every clay pot a potter shapes will crack one day. Age and cleverness make no difference: the child and the elder, the scholar and the fool are all mortal (नश्वर).
4/4So it is with all who are born.
Two panels sit side by side. On the left a ripe fruit hangs from a leafy branch; on the right stands a whole clay pot. In step 2 the fruit drops to the ground and the words 'falls first' appear. In step 3 a crack runs down the pot, a chip breaks off, and the words 'breaks one day' appear. In step 4 both stay as they are and the line 'So it is with every life' appears along the bottom.
2. No one can save another. Love is no shield. However much a family cares, it cannot keep a member alive when death comes. The Buddha's image is harsh: the dying are taken like an ox led to slaughter, while the family looks on in tears, powerless. The point is not cruelty but honesty. Grief often hides a painful belief that someone should have been able to prevent the loss.
3. Weeping does not help. Tears are natural, but the Buddha asks what endless mourning actually achieves: nothing for the dead, and harm for the living. The mourner only suffers more, until even health gives way. People who understand how life works therefore do not let grief rule them.
4. Pull out the arrow. The sermon closes with its most memorable picture (Fig. 8.6). Imagine an arrow buried in the heart: the Buddha's “arrow of lamentation”, made of lamentation (विलाप), complaint and grief. Leave it in and the wound stays open. Pull it out and healing can begin. The person who does so grows composed (शांत), calm and steady, and reaches peace of mind. Having overcome sorrow, such a person is free of it.
3/3The heart heals: calm and peace of mind.
A heart is shown with an arrow lodged in it and a small wound. In step 1 labels beside it read 'weeping, complaint, grief' and 'pain grows'. In step 2 the arrow slides up and out of the heart, under the heading 'Draw the arrow out'. In step 3 the arrow has gone, the wound and the labels disappear, the heart turns from a red tint to a green tint with calm wavy lines, and new labels read 'composed, at peace'.
| Image | What we see | What it teaches |
|---|---|---|
| Ripe fruit | fruit that is ready falls first | once born, every life moves towards its end |
| Clay pots | every pot a potter makes will break | all bodies are fragile and do not last |
| An ox led to slaughter | the animal cannot resist | families cannot hold back death for those they love |
| City lamps (the story) | lamps flare up and go out | lives shine for a while, then end |
| An arrow in the heart | a wound that cannot heal while the arrow stays | grief keeps hurting until we let it go |
Notice what the Buddha does not do. He never says, “Your son is dead; everyone dies; stop crying.” Words like those had already failed: her neighbours had told her plainly that the child was dead, and she would not listen. Instead he gives her a task that lets her find the truth herself, gently and one home at a time. By the time she hears the sermon, she is ready for it, because she has already lived it. Teachers call this learning by discovery.
Telling her or letting her discover
Telling her
- quick, but she is not ready to listen
- the truth stays someone else's idea
- her grief may turn to anger
- her neighbours tried it and failed
Letting her discover
- slow and gentle, one home at a time
- the truth becomes her own experience
- she meets others who share her pain
- the Buddha's way: it changes her understanding
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Answer (D) Because ripe fruit is always close to falling, as the living are to dying
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- (A) greater pain
- (B) harm to the body
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Answer False
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Answer (1) arrow, (2) composed
8.5 Characters, themes and message
The text has two main characters. The neighbours act almost like a chorus: in both rounds they show Kisa Gotami the truth, first bluntly and then gently.
3/3He teaches her through a task, not a lecture.
Two name panels sit at the top: 'Kisa Gotami' on the left and 'The Buddha' on the right. In step 1 only Kisa Gotami's traits show: loving mother, desperate at first, persistent, honest and willing to learn. In step 2 the Buddha's traits appear: compassionate, patient, wise, skilled teacher. In step 3 an arrow runs from the Buddha's side to hers along the bottom, labelled 'teaches her through a task'.
Kisa Gotami is a loving, devoted mother. Her refusal to accept her son's death is not foolishness; it is love that cannot let go. She is also persistent and hopeful: she knocks on door after door, not once but twice. Most of all, she is open to learning. When the truth finally reaches her, she does not turn bitter. She looks honestly at herself and changes.
The Buddha is wise, patient and compassionate. He respects her grief instead of correcting it, and he understands that she must find the truth for herself. He is a skilled teacher who turns a request for medicine into a lesson about life. His sermon is calm and reasoned, and its pictures come from daily life, so anyone can follow them.
Kisa Gotami: before and after
At the start
- lost in grief, unable to accept the death
- hopes for a miracle cure
- sees only her own loss
- moves restlessly from door to door
At the end
- accepts that death comes to every family
- knows that no medicine can undo death
- feels connected to others who mourn
- is calm and ready to learn
- Death is universal. Every living being must die; this is the nature of life, not a punishment.
- Grief and acceptance. Grief is natural, but peace comes only when we accept a loss.
- Selfishness in grief. Sorrow can make us forget that others suffer too; seeing our shared pain begins the healing.
- Learning through experience. The deepest lessons are found, not told.
- Compassion. The Buddha's kindness shows in how he teaches, not only in what he teaches.
The message. Death cannot be avoided, but endless grieving can. When we see that loss is part of every life, we can let our sorrow go, find peace, and turn towards other people instead of away from them.
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Answer (A) compassionate
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- (A) death comes to all
- (B) grief can cut us off from others
- (D) we learn most through experience
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Answer False
8.6 Thinking about language
The text sounds old-fashioned because it retells an incident from more than two thousand years ago in the style of older English translations. The language work has two parts: putting that old-fashioned English into modern words, and joining clauses with a semicolon or a dash.
8.6.1 Old-fashioned English
Archaic (पुरातन) words and forms were common long ago but are rarely used today, except in old books, prayers and poetry. You can usually work them out from context. The table shows the forms the textbook asks you to find, with what each means and how we would say it now.
| Old form | What it means | Modern version |
|---|---|---|
| thee, thy | old forms of you (object) and your (possessive) | I cannot give you medicine for your child. |
| Pray tell me | pray = please, in a polite request | Please tell me who that is, sir. |
| repaired to | went to (formal, literary) | Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha. |
| no house but… | no … but = not a single one that did not | Someone had died in every house. |
| kinsmen | relatives; members of a family or clan | relatives, family members |
| Mark! | Pay attention! Note this! | Listen! Look! |
Here are the same forms in fresh sentences, so you can see the pattern:
- Thou art my friend, and thy door is always open → You are my friend, and your door is always open.
- Pray, be seated → Please sit down.
- After dinner, the guests repaired to the terrace → After dinner, the guests went to the terrace.
- There was no student but knew the topper's name → Every student knew the topper's name.
- Mark my words → Listen carefully to what I am saying.
Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.
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- thy : your
- pray : please
- repaired : went
- kinsmen : relatives
- Mark! : Pay attention!
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Answer (C) Every village had a well.
8.6.2 Joining clauses with a semicolon or a dash
A clause (उपवाक्य) is a group of words with its own subject and verb. Two clauses that could each stand alone as sentences are usually joined by a word such as and, but, or, yet or so. Sometimes no joining word fits, because the link between the ideas is closer than and yet is not a contrast or a result. Then we can use a semicolon (अर्धविराम) or a dash.
3/4A semicolon joins two closely linked clauses; no capital letter follows it.
Two boxes hold the clauses 'The rain stopped' and 'children ran out', with a gap between them for the joiner. In step 1 the gap holds a full stop, the second clause starts with a capital, and the rule reads 'Two separate sentences, each ends in a full stop'. In step 2 the gap holds the word 'and' and the rule names joining words: and, but, or, yet, so. In step 3 the gap holds a semicolon, the rule says the ideas are closely linked and there is no capital after it. In step 4 the gap holds a dash for a sudden turn, which is lively and a little informal.
- Semicolon (;) joins two closely related, complete clauses of equal weight. The shop was shut; we bought milk at the station.
- Dash (—) joins clauses when the second one comments on, explains or sharply turns the first. It is livelier and more informal. I finished the whole paper in an hour — I still can't believe it.
- No capital letter after a semicolon (unless the next word is a name), and no and or but along with it.
- Not a comma. A comma alone cannot join two full sentences. It rained all night, the river rose is wrong; use a semicolon or a full stop.
Now find the sermon sentence that begins “For there is not any means…”. It strings three clauses together with two semicolons. Split into simple modern sentences, its ideas run like this: Nobody who is born can escape death. Death follows old age. All living beings are made this way.
Read both versions aloud. The three short sentences are clear but jerky, like separate drumbeats. The single sentence flows in one long breath, and each pause at a semicolon lets an idea settle before the next one builds on it. That steady, solemn rhythm suits a sermon, so most readers prefer the original.
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Answer (B) The bus was late; we walked to school.
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Answer (C) It marks a sudden turn: the surprise in the second clause
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Answer False
8.7 Speaking: grief, then and now
The Buddha's sermon is more than 2,500 years old. The textbook places two modern pieces about grief beside it and asks a big question: do the Buddha's ideas and his way of teaching still speak to us, or do we now cope with loss in better ways? Here is what the two pieces say, in brief. Read them in full in your book.
- Text I: a guide to coping with a death. It opens with two short examples of people in grief, then lists feelings that are common after a loss: sadness, anger, guilt, anxiety, loneliness, tiredness and disbelief. It ends with advice for friends and family: reach out, stay patient, and show the person you care, even if they would rather not talk.
- Text II: ‘Good Grief’ by Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist writing about his own losses: his wife in a road accident and, years later, his adult son. He rejects the idea that grief must move through fixed stages in the right order. A relative's advice helps him: ask not why it happened but what the survivors can do for one another. His family's comfort lies in caring for each other, especially for his son's young widow and her small child.
3/3Family and friends walking alongside make the path bearable.
In step 1 five stairs climb from left to right, labelled denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, under the heading 'The neat model: five stages'. In step 2 the stairs fade and a dotted path winds over them, looping backwards several times before it reaches the far side, labelled 'forward, back, forward'. In step 3 three small green circles appear along the path, labelled 'family, friends', under the heading 'Others walk beside you'.
Three views of grief
The Buddha
- death is certain for all
- endless weeping only adds pain
- accept the loss and let grief go
- peace comes from within
The coping guide
- grief brings many mixed feelings
- every person grieves differently
- friends should listen and be patient
- support comes from others
Etzioni
- there is no ‘right’ way to grieve
- anger can be honest, not a wrong stage
- ask what we can do, not why
- comfort comes from caring for each other
Notice what the three agree on, as well as where they differ. All three accept that loss is part of life, and all three look for a way forward rather than a way back. The Buddha stresses inner calm and acceptance; the modern writers stress feelings and the support of others. Kisa Gotami's story contains both ideas: she finds peace inside herself only after she has met the grief of others.
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Answer (A) Loss is part of every life, and we must find a way forward
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Answer False
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Answer (D) Doing things for one another
8.8 Writing: a page in three paragraphs
The writing task asks for one page, about three paragraphs, on one of three topics. You can use ideas from the text and add your own experience. The topics are: helping someone grasp an idea that is new or hard; how people support one another through hard times; and whether you see yourself as one of a kind or as one person in billions.
3/3Paragraph 3 reflects and ends with a line that stays.
A page with a title bar holds three blocks of text lines, numbered 1, 2 and 3. In step 1 the first block is highlighted and labelled 'Opening: hook + main idea'. In step 2 the second, longer block is also highlighted and labelled 'Middle: examples, explained'. In step 3 the third block is highlighted too and labelled 'Ending: reflection + last line', so all three parts and their jobs are visible together.
- Teaching a difficult idea: a time you struggled to understand something → the Buddha's method (let the learner discover) and a teacher or sibling who did the same → why discovering beats being told.
- Helping each other through hard times: a hard time in your family, school or town → Kisa Gotami's neighbours and Etzioni's family → small acts that help: listening, staying close, sharing the work.
- Unique, or one among billions? a striking fact (India alone has more than 1.4 billion people) → Kisa Gotami thought her loss was hers alone, then found it was shared → we are both: unique in our feelings, common in our fate.
- Examples, explained
- Hook and main idea
- Reflection and closing thought
Show answer
- Hook and main idea
- Examples, explained
- Reflection and closing thought
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Answer (D) The night the river entered our lane, strangers became family.
8.9 For Anne Gregory
Imagine someone tells you that people like you only because of your looks. Would you feel flattered, or a little hurt? That question sits at the heart of this short, playful poem. It is a conversation in three stanzas. A young man speaks, a young woman with beautiful golden hair replies, and he has the last word. They are arguing, gently, about whether anyone could ever love her for who she really is.
4/4Each stanza ends on the same two-line idea.
Three speech bubbles are stacked down the picture. In step 1 only the top one shows: 'Stanza 1 · he', 'No man will love just you', in a solid blue bubble. In step 2 a dashed orange bubble appears on the right: 'Stanza 2 · she', 'I can dye my hair'. In step 3 a third solid blue bubble appears at the bottom: 'Stanza 3 · he', 'Only God loves the true you'. In step 4 a yellow tag reading 'refrain' appears beside each bubble, showing that every stanza ends on the same idea.
8.9.1 Stanza by stanza
Stanza 1: the young man's claim. The poem opens with a bold prediction: she will never be loved purely for herself. The reason is her hair. He pictures it as great golden walls around her face, so dazzling that young men fall into hopeless longing. Any man who loves her, he suggests, will also be loving her hair. It sounds like a compliment, but it carries a sting: her beauty hides her.
Stanza 2: the young woman's answer. She has a practical fix. Hair colour can be changed! She could dye it brown, black or even carrot-red, so that men would have to look past her hair and love the real person. Her reply shows that she wants to be valued for her mind and nature, not her appearance. It is also a little cheeky: she treats a deep question as a simple problem with a simple solution.
Stanza 3: the last word. He is not persuaded, and he answers with an appeal to religion. A devout old man, he reports, has found proof in scripture: loving someone purely for herself, with no thought of her looks, is something only God can do. In other words, human love never fully separates a person from her appearance; only divine love sees the soul alone. The poem stops on that thought and gives her no chance to reply.
Words from the poem
8.9.2 Devices, mood and tone
The most striking image in the poem is a metaphor (रूपक): her hair as “honey-coloured ramparts”. Ramparts are the high, wide walls of a fort. The image suggests three things at once. The hair is thick and grand; it is golden like honey; and it stands like a wall around her ear and face. Walls keep people out. Her hair, the speaker hints, guards her real self from anyone who comes close, because admirers stop at the outside (Fig. 8.12).
3/3Admirers' eyes stop at the hair and never reach the self.
In step 1 a fort with a golden, battlemented wall stands on the left, labelled 'rampart (fort wall)', under the heading 'Ramparts guard a fort'. In step 2 the fort fades and, on the right, golden strands curve around a dashed circle labelled 'her self', with 'yellow hair' below, under the heading 'Golden hair, like walls'. In step 3 two arrows marked 'looks' come in from outside and stop at the strands, under the heading 'Admirers stop at the outside'.
| Device | Where | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Metaphor | stanza 1: hair as ramparts | hair seen as grand golden walls that hide the self |
| Refrain | last two lines of every stanza | keeps returning to the key question: her self or her hair? |
| Dialogue | the whole poem | turns an idea into a lively argument |
| Hyperbole | stanza 1: young men in despair | playful exaggeration of her beauty's effect |
| Inversion | stanza 1: ‘Never shall…’ | unusual word order adds emphasis |
| Colour imagery | honey, yellow, brown, black, carrot | makes the hair vivid; colour stands for outward looks |
| Rhyme | lines 2, 4 and 6 of each stanza | a light, song-like pattern (abcbdb), with near rhymes such as ear and dear |
| Allusion | stanza 3: a holy text | brings in religion: only divine love is unconditional |
The refrain. Each stanza ends on almost the same pair of lines, about being loved “for yourself alone” and not for “yellow hair”. Only the pronouns change: you and your in stanzas 1 and 3, me and my in stanza 2. This small change tells us who is speaking, and the repetition keeps the central question ringing in our ears.
Mood and tone. The mood is light and teasing, like friendly banter between an older admirer and a young woman. Under the fun lies a serious, slightly sad thought: perhaps no human love is perfectly pure. The tone moves from flattering (stanza 1) to defiant (stanza 2) to wise and final (stanza 3).
Theme and message. The poem explores outer beauty and the inner self. People are drawn first by looks, and it is hard, perhaps impossible, for human beings to separate the two. Only God's love, the poem suggests, is truly unconditional. The message: value people for who they are, while being honest that appearance affects us all.
Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.
Show answer
- Stanza 1 : He: no man will love you for yourself
- Stanza 2 : She: I can dye my hair
- Stanza 3 : He: only God could love you so
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Answer (A) Her thick golden hair
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Answer (D) So that she is loved for herself, not her looks
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Answer False
8.9.3 Thinking about the poem
The textbook's questions move from the poem to life. Why do we find some objects more desirable than others? Do we love people for their qualities, or for themselves? And can the ‘person’ ever be separated from the way they look and act?
Objects. We value things for qualities we can list: a phone for its camera, battery and price; a bicycle for its speed, comfort and strength. A seller stresses exactly those qualities. If you were selling your old bicycle, you would point out its new tyres, smooth gears and light frame.
Loving qualities, or loving the person?
Love that depends on qualities
- a fan adoring a film star or cricketer
- admiring a topper for her marks
- can fade when the qualities fade
- close to the way we value objects
Love for the person
- a parent's love for a newborn, or for a child with a disability
- a friend who stays when you fail
- a pet's love, which ignores looks
- lasts through change
The dancer and the dance. In another poem, ‘Among School Children’ (collected in The Tower, 1928), Yeats ends by asking how we could ever tell the dancer from the dance. A person shows who they are through how they move, speak and act, so the ‘real self’ and its outward signs are bound together. Think of a grandparent. Their looks have changed over the years, yet your love has deepened, because the self you know lives in their habits, stories and kindness, not only in their face.
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Answer (B) A person cannot easily be separated from how they look, move and act
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Answer True
8.10 Revision and board practice
The Sermon at Benares: key points and summary
- A sermon is a talk on faith or right living; a lecture teaches knowledge; a talk can be about anything (Section 8.1).
- Prince Siddhartha saw a sick man, an old man, a funeral and a monk, searched for years, and gained enlightenment under a peepal tree to become the Buddha (Section 8.2).
- Kisa Gotami begs for medicine for her dead son; the Buddha asks for mustard seed from a home where no one has died (Section 8.3).
- Everyone offers seed, but every home has lost someone; watching the city lamps, she realises that death comes to all and that she was selfish in her grief (Section 8.3).
- The sermon: death is certain (ripe fruit, clay pots); no one can save another; weeping only adds pain; pull out the arrow of grief to become composed (Section 8.4).
- The Buddha teaches by discovery, not by lecturing (Section 8.4).
- Kisa Gotami changes from a desperate mother to a calm, wiser woman; the Buddha is wise and compassionate (Section 8.5).
- Archaic forms: thee/thy = you/your, pray = please, repaired = went, kinsmen = relatives, Mark! = pay attention (Section 8.6.1).
- A semicolon joins two closely linked clauses; a dash adds a sudden turn; a comma alone cannot join two sentences (Section 8.6.2).
- Modern writers on grief stress mixed feelings and mutual support; the Buddha stresses acceptance and inner calm (Section 8.7).
- A three-paragraph composition: opening, development, ending (Section 8.8).
- In ‘For Anne Gregory’, he says no man will love her for herself alone; she offers to dye her yellow hair; he replies that only God could (Section 8.9.1).
- Devices: the ramparts metaphor, the refrain, dialogue, hyperbole, inversion, abcbdb rhyme; theme: outer beauty and the inner self (Section 8.9.2).
The CBSE paper tests this unit through extract-based questions, short answers of about 40–50 words and long answers of about 100–120 words. Extract questions point to a passage or stanza; answer each part in a sentence or two. Short answers need two or three exact points from the text. Long answers need a plan (Fig. 8.13): an opening line, three points with evidence, and a conclusion.
4/4About 100–120 words in all.
Five stacked blocks build a long answer. In step 1 only the top block shows: 'Opening: answer the question'. In step 2 three blocks appear below it: point 1, point 2 and point 3, each with evidence. In step 3 the last block appears: 'Conclusion: your view'. In step 4 word counts appear beside the blocks (about 15, 25, 25, 25 and 15 words) with the total, about 100–120 words.
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Answer (A) Benares
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Answer False
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Answer (C) metaphor
Thinking about the text: questions with answers
Answer in two to four sentences. Model answers are given as short lists so that you can check your points.
On her first round of the town, what is Kisa Gotami looking for? Why does nobody give it to her?
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- She wants medicine that will bring her dead son back to life.
- Nobody can help: no medicine cures death.
- The neighbours decide that grief has made her lose her reason.
- One man sends her to the Buddha instead.
What does she ask for when she goes round the town a second time? Why does she come back empty-handed?
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- Mustard seed, but only from a family that has never suffered a death.
- Everyone offers seed gladly.
- But every family has lost someone, so no seed meets the condition.
What truth dawns on Kisa Gotami by the end of the day? Was this the lesson the Buddha meant her to learn?
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- Death comes to every family; life, like a lamp, burns for a while and then goes out.
- She has been selfish in her grief, thinking only of her own loss.
- Yes. The Buddha set the task so that she would discover this herself, and his sermon then confirms it.
Why did the truth reach her only after her second search? How did the Buddha guide her to it?
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- In the first round she was in shock and refused to believe her son was dead; blunt words could not reach her.
- The Buddha did not argue. He gave her a hopeful task that made her meet family after family who had lost someone.
- Experience, not argument, changed her understanding: she saw the truth herself.
What do we usually mean by ‘selfish’? In what sense was Kisa Gotami selfish in her grief? Do you agree with her judgement of herself?
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- Usually: caring only about yourself, often at others' cost.
- Her selfishness was different: grief made her see only her own loss and forget that every family suffers.
- Opinion (either side, with a reason). Agree: shared grief helps us heal. Disagree: a mother's grief is natural, so ‘selfish’ is too harsh a word; she was simply heartbroken.
Board practice: extract-based questions: questions with answers
Find the passage or stanza named in each question in your NCERT book, read it carefully, then answer the parts.
Read the introduction paragraph that begins with the Buddha's dates (563 B.C. – 483 B.C.).
Siddhartha left home because…
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Answer (C) the sights of suffering moved him to seek answers
Sickness, age, death and a monk moved him to search for an answer to suffering.Name the four sights he came across.
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A sick man, an old man, a funeral procession and a monk who lived on alms.
The word ‘shielded’ in the paragraph means…
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Answer (A) protected
He had been protected from the sorrows of the world.Why were these sights a shock to him?
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He had lived a sheltered royal life and had never seen suffering before.
Read the paragraph that begins ‘Poor Kisa Gotami now went…’.
What was she asking for this time?
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A handful of mustard seed, from a home where no one had died.
How did people respond to her request?
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Answer (D) they pitied her and offered seed
They were kind and gladly offered the seed.Why could she not accept the seed?
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Every family had lost someone dear, so no seed met the Buddha's condition.
What does this paragraph show about death?
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Death touches every household; no family is spared.
Read the paragraph that begins ‘Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless’.
Where did she sit, and what did she watch?
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By the side of the road, watching the city's lights come on and go out.
The lights are compared to…
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Answer (A) the lives of human beings
Lives flare up and go out, just like the lamps.Why does she call herself selfish?
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Her grief had made her think only of her own loss, though death comes to all.
‘Valley of desolation’ refers to…
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Answer (C) the human world, full of sorrow
It is a figure of speech for the world, where everyone suffers loss.
Read the last paragraph of the sermon, which begins ‘Not from weeping nor from grieving…’.
What does endless weeping do to a mourner?
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It increases the pain and harms the body, making the person sick and pale.
The ‘arrow’ stands for…
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Answer (D) lamentation, complaint and grief
The arrow is grief lodged in the heart.The word ‘composed’ means…
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Answer (B) calm and in control
Here composed means calm and steady.What reward does the sermon promise?
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Peace of mind, and freedom from sorrow, for whoever overcomes grief.
Read stanza 2 of ‘For Anne Gregory’.
Who speaks in this stanza, and to whom?
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The young woman, replying to the young man.
Name the colours she mentions.
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Brown, black or carrot (orange-red).
Why does she want to change her hair colour?
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Answer (C) to be loved for herself, not her hair
She wants admirers to love the real person.Which lines repeat, with a change, from stanza 1? Name the device.
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The last two lines: loved for herself alone and not for yellow hair, with me/my in place of you/your. This is a refrain.
Read stanza 3 of ‘For Anne Gregory’.
Whom does the young man quote?
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An old religious man he heard the night before.
What had that man found?
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Answer (A) a holy text proving only God could love her for herself
A passage in scripture.What does ‘yesternight’ mean?
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Last night.
What does the stanza suggest about human love?
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That human love is always partly drawn by looks; only God's love sees the self alone.
Board practice: short answers (40–50 words): questions with answers
Why do you think the Buddha asked for mustard seed in particular?
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Mustard seed is found in almost every Indian home, so the task sounded easy and gave Kisa Gotami hope. It also sent her to every house, where she met family after family that had lost someone. The ordinary seed led her to an extraordinary truth: death spares no one.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- common household item
- gave hope, kept her searching
- led her to discover that death is universal
How did the four sights change Prince Siddhartha's life?
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Until then he had been shielded from all suffering. The sick man, the old man and the funeral showed him that illness, age and death come to everyone. The monk showed him another path. He gave up royal comfort and set out to find an answer to human sorrow.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- sheltered life before
- three sights of suffering
- the monk's example
- left to seek enlightenment
What does the Buddha mean by drawing out the ‘arrow of lamentation’?
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Grief, complaint and weeping are like an arrow stuck in the heart: while it stays, the wound cannot heal and the pain grows. Drawing it out means letting go of endless mourning and accepting the loss. Only then can a person become composed and find peace of mind.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- arrow = grief and lamentation
- wound cannot heal while it stays
- letting go brings composure and peace
Why, according to the sermon, do the wise not grieve?
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The wise understand the law of life: everyone who is born must die, and no one can save another from death. They also know that weeping brings back neither the dead nor peace, but only adds pain. So they accept loss calmly.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- death is certain for all
- no one can prevent it
- weeping only harms the mourner
The speaker claims the girl's golden hair leaves young men ‘thrown into despair’. What does he mean?
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Her thick golden hair is so beautiful that it overwhelms young men, who fall hopelessly in love. They are in despair because they cannot win her, and because they are dazzled by her looks. The phrase is a playful exaggeration of her beauty's power.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- beauty of her golden hair
- admirers fall hopelessly in love
- hyperbole
Would dyeing her hair solve the young woman's problem? Give a reason.
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Probably not. A new colour would still be a look, and admirers would still be drawn by her appearance, whatever the shade. The poem suggests that humans can never fully separate a person from her looks; only God loves the self alone. Changing the outside cannot reveal the inside.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- any colour is still appearance
- human love is drawn by looks
- only divine love is purely for the self
Board practice: long answers (100–120 words): questions with answers
Write a character sketch of Kisa Gotami.
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Kisa Gotami is a loving mother whose grief is so deep that she cannot accept her only son's death. She carries his body from door to door, begging for medicine, which shows both her devotion and her desperation. She is persistent and hopeful: when the Buddha asks for mustard seed, she sets out eagerly and visits house after house. She is also honest and open to learning. Watching the city lamps, she realises that death comes to every family and admits that she has been selfish in her grief. She does not turn bitter. Instead she grows calm and wise. Her journey from denial to acceptance is the heart of the story.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- loving, devoted mother
- desperate and persistent
- open to learning, honest about herself
- change from denial to acceptance
- evidence from both rounds
“The Buddha was a great teacher.” Discuss with reference to how he helps Kisa Gotami.
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The Buddha shows the qualities of a great teacher. First, he is compassionate: he does not dismiss Kisa Gotami as mad, as her neighbours did. Second, he understands that she is not ready to hear the truth, so he does not lecture her. Instead he sets her a simple task, collecting mustard seed from a home where no one has died. Through it, she discovers for herself that death is universal. Only then does he explain, with images from daily life such as ripe fruit and clay pots, why grief must be let go. Because she has lived the lesson, it changes her. Good teachers, like him, guide learners to discover truths instead of forcing answers on them.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- compassion and patience
- learning by discovery (the mustard seed task)
- clear, simple images in the sermon
- the lesson changes her
- a general point about good teaching
‘For Anne Gregory’ contrasts outer beauty with the inner self. Do you think people today value looks more than character? Answer with reference to the poem.
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In the poem, a young man tells a golden-haired girl that no man will love her for herself alone, because her beauty dazzles everyone. She offers to dye her hair, but he answers that only God could love her purely for herself. I think the poem is still true today. Social media filters, advertisements for fairness creams and fashion trends show how much we value appearance. First impressions are often based on looks. Yet the people we truly love, such as parents and old friends, we love for their kindness and loyalty. Like the poem, I believe looks attract us first, but character is what makes love last.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- summary of the poem's argument
- clear opinion
- modern examples
- contrast of attraction and lasting love
- about 120 words
Kisa Gotami found comfort when she saw that others had suffered too. How can we help someone who is grieving? Use ideas from the unit.
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The story shows that grief eases when it is shared. Kisa Gotami's pain lifted once she saw that every family had lost someone. The modern texts in the unit add practical advice. The coping guide says grief brings many feelings, from anger to tiredness, so we should be patient and never judge. Etzioni's family found comfort in caring for one another and keeping busy together. So we can help a grieving friend by staying close, listening without lecturing, sharing everyday tasks and reminding them that they are not alone. Most of all, we should give them time, because, as the Buddha showed, acceptance cannot be forced; it has to be reached.
Key points the examiner looks for:
- lesson from the story: shared grief
- patience and listening (guide)
- practical care (Etzioni)
- acceptance takes time
- personal, sensitive tone
Language and writing practice: questions with answers
Rewrite in modern English: ‘Pray, lend me thy pen.’ → , lend me pen.
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Answer (1) Please, (2) your
Pray = please; thy = your.Which modern sentence best rephrases ‘After the meeting, the members repaired to the canteen’?
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Answer (B) After the meeting, the members went to the canteen.
Repaired to is an old, formal way of saying went to.Join each pair of sentences with a semicolon.
The lights went off. The fans stopped.
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The lights went off; the fans stopped.
Asha loves maths. Her brother prefers history.
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Asha loves maths; her brother prefers history.
The train was crowded. We stood all the way to Pune.
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The train was crowded; we stood all the way to Pune.
Join each pair with a dash, so that the second clause comments on or turns the first.
I checked the score. India had won by one run!
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I checked the score — India had won by one run!
She practised every day for a year. That is real dedication.
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She practised every day for a year — that is real dedication.
Split this sentence into three short sentences: ‘The bell rang; the corridor filled with noise; the long school day was over.’ Which version has a better rhythm, and why?
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The bell rang. The corridor filled with noise. The long school day was over.
The single sentence flows better: the semicolons make one smooth chain of events, while the three short sentences sound choppy. Either view earns marks if you give a reason.
Find the error: ‘The rain stopped, we went out to play.’
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Answer (D) It is a comma splice: use a semicolon or a full stop.
Two complete clauses cannot be joined by a comma alone: The rain stopped; we went out to play.
Practice questions with answers (NCERT “Thinking about the poem”)
What picture does the speaker create when he calls her hair ‘honey-coloured ramparts’? Why does it bring young men to despair?
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- Her hair is thick, golden like honey, and frames her face and ear like the walls of a fort.
- Young men are dazzled and fall hopelessly in love.
- Like a wall, the hair stops them from seeing the real person inside.
Name the colour of the girl's hair and the shades she says she could dye it. What is her reason?
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- Yellow (golden, honey-coloured).
- Brown, black or carrot (orange-red).
- So that men would love her for herself, not for her hair.
Choose an object you would like to sell, such as a used phone or a school bag. Which qualities would you stress to make a buyer want it?
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Model (a used phone): a camera that takes sharp photos even at night, a battery that lasts a full day, a scratch-free screen and a low price. A seller points to whatever makes the item better than its rivals.
Link to the poem: we value objects for their qualities. The poem asks whether we treat people the same way.
Can we love someone purely for who they are, apart from their qualities? Discuss with examples: a parent and a newborn, fans and a celebrity, a friend, a pet.
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- Parents love a newborn, or a child with a disability, before knowing any of the child's qualities: love for the person.
- Fans love a star for talent or looks; that love can fade when the qualities fade.
- True friends stay when we fail; a pet loves us without caring how we look.
- Conclusion: such love is possible, though qualities often attract us first.
Yeats asks elsewhere how we can know the dancer from the dance. Can a person be separated from their looks, voice and manner? Think of someone whose appearance has altered with time.
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Not completely. We know people through how they look, speak and act, just as we know a dancer through the dance. But our relationship can grow beyond appearance. My grandmother's hair has turned white and she walks slowly now, yet I love her more, because I know her stories, her humour and her care. Looks change; the self we know through a lifetime stays.
Find your NCERT exercise question
Our practice questions are written for ncert.ai and follow the NCERT exercises. Find the one that matches the question in your textbook; its answer is with it.
| In your NCERT textbook | Practice question here |
|---|---|
| NCERT Thinking about the Text Q1 | Thinking about the text · Q1 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Text Q2 | Thinking about the text · Q2 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Text Q3 | Thinking about the text · Q3 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Text Q4 | Thinking about the text · Q4 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Text Q5 | Thinking about the text · Q5 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Poem Q1 | Board practice: short answers (40–50 words) · Q5 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Poem Q4 | Board practice: long answers (100–120 words) · Q3 |
| NCERT Speaking | Board practice: long answers (100–120 words) · Q4 |
| NCERT Thinking about Language I | Language and writing practice · Q1 |
| NCERT Thinking about Language I | Language and writing practice · Q2 |
| NCERT Thinking about Language II | Language and writing practice · Q3 |
| NCERT Thinking about Language II | Language and writing practice · Q4 |
| NCERT Thinking about Language II | Language and writing practice · Q5 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Poem Q1 | Thinking about the poem · Q1 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Poem Q2 | Thinking about the poem · Q2 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Poem Q3 | Thinking about the poem · Q3 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Poem Q4 | Thinking about the poem · Q4 |
| NCERT Thinking about the Poem Q5 | Thinking about the poem · Q5 |
Quick check: MCQs on The Sermon at Benares
- 8.1 Before you read3 questions
- 8.2 From prince to Buddha3 questions
- 8.3 The story of Kisa Gotami4 questions
- 8.4 The Buddha's sermon4 questions
- 8.5 Characters, themes and message3 questions
- 8.6.1 Old-fashioned English2 questions
- 8.6.2 Joining clauses with a semicolon or a dash3 questions
- 8.7 Speaking: grief, then and now3 questions
- 8.8 Writing: a page in three paragraphs2 questions
- 8.9.2 Devices, mood and tone4 questions
- 8.9.3 Thinking about the poem2 questions
- Revision check3 questions
Key terms (English–Hindi)
- archaicपुरातनpuraatan
- Old-fashioned; once common in a language but rarely used today.First seen in the chapter →
- clauseउपवाक्यupvaakya
- A group of words with its own subject and verb.First seen in the chapter →
- composedशांतshaant
- Calm and in control of one's feelings.First seen in the chapter →
- enlightenmentबोधbodh
- A state of deep spiritual understanding; for Buddhists, waking up from ignorance and suffering.First seen in the chapter →
- griefशोकshok
- Deep sorrow, especially after someone dies.First seen in the chapter →
- inscrutableरहस्यमयrahasyamay
- Impossible to understand or explain.First seen in the chapter →
- lamentationविलापvilaap
- Loud weeping, or words that express deep sorrow.First seen in the chapter →
- metaphorरूपकroopak
- A figure of speech that calls one thing another, without ‘like’ or ‘as’, to show a likeness.First seen in the chapter →
- mortalनश्वरnashvar
- Certain to die one day; as a noun, a human being.First seen in the chapter →
- refrainटेकtek
- Lines repeated at the end of each stanza of a poem or song.First seen in the chapter →
- semicolonअर्धविरामardhviraam
- The mark ; used to join two closely related, complete clauses.First seen in the chapter →
- sermonप्रवचनpravachan
- A talk on religion or right living, given by a spiritual teacher; used jokingly for long, unwanted advice.First seen in the chapter →